Nicotine

 

Vroman’s Books in Pasadena, the oldest and largest independent bookstore in Los Angeles, hosted a discussion last Thursday night of The Nicotine Chronicles (Akashic Books, 2020), edited by Lee Child and featuring new work by David L. Ulin and Joyce Carol Oates.  All three writers were on hand for the discussion.  The book is part of a five-book set from Akashic Books on addictions.  Titles include The Cocaine Chronicles (2011), The Speed Chronicles (2011), The Heroin Chronicles (2013), and The Marijuana Chronicles (2013).

In his introduction to the book, Child writes that nicotine can be found in potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, but one would need to eat an enormous amount of produce to reap the benefits of the drug.  The only delivery system that guarantees maximum bang for the buck is to inhale the smoke from burning tobacco leaves.  Do it that way, and the drug is flowing through the highways and byways of the body in ten seconds.  Nicotine improves fine motor skills, attention span, cognitive abilities, long and short-term memory, lessens depression, delays, or even prevents Alzheimer’s, and decreases the risk of developing Parkinson’s.

Child said he moves through his day in a cloud of marijuana and tobacco smoke and said Thursday night that he could not function without them.  For that reason, he wanted to edit this anthology.  The project excited him because he could draft an all-star team of writers to contribute.  David L. Ulin, who has edited several anthologies, said he liked editing anthologies because one did not have to come up with an entire book of original material.  It is a true group project.  Joyce Carol Oates talked about researching vaping and chose to write about the subculture of that controversial activity.  She has never inhaled a cigarette and is a confirmed running and fast-walking addict.  But she was fascinated by the subject nonetheless.

This series of five books is all about addictions.  Alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, shopping, behaving recklessly—all are part of the human condition.  Child made that clear Thursday evening—“Marijuana is one of my necessary food groups,” he joked, and he was seconded by Ulin, who said Child was a “man after my own heart.”  For emphasis, Child stated that nicotine is ferociously addictive, and for him, to get the benefits, he had to accept the delivery system as part of the bargain.

Oates addressed her addiction to running and fast-walking.  Her day would not be complete without this exercise in her schedule.  Ulin is also a confirmed walker, usually in the mornings.  He bemoaned the recent fires around Los Angeles and the poor air quality, which prevented him from taking his morning stroll.  He has felt grumpy and out-of-sorts over the last few weeks as the fires raged out of control and the air was filled with chunks of ash.

Ulin told a story of going to a party when he and his wife first moved to Los Angeles.  Almost immediately, they realized they were not in the same “pay grade” as their fellow partiers.  His wife, a so-called “social smoker,” went to bum a cigarette from two women standing off by the pool smoking.  When she came back, Ulin noticed a look on her face.  When he asked what was up, she said the two women were Faye Dunaway and Jacqueline Bisset.  Child added that he has met many famous people when smoking, and he counts that as one of the perks.  Ulin went on to say that as a small child, he thought four things made a boy into a man, as he observed from his father:  shaving, driving, smoking, and reading.  He is no longer a smoker, but his life involves all of the other activities.

As for Child, his lesser vice includes coffee—in fact, he has two machines on his kitchen counter.  Without coffee, nicotine, and pot, he would not be able to function.  This has always been the case for him.  He started writing when he was out-of-work and needed to put food on the table.  He took matters into his own hands, sat down, and created the Jack Reacher series of novels, and from there, his career took off.  He attributes his success, in part, to his vices, and to paraphrase those philosophers, the Doobie Brothers, what were vices are now habits, deeply ingrained in how he works and moves through the day.

The trio discussed writing the stories in the collection, and the art of writing in general.  Ulin says he often focuses on a single scene.  He feels that is his métier, although he mainly writes nonfiction.  Oates sees the short story as a single moment in time.  They both hold up Hemingway as the model short story writer.  Sometimes an entire world can be illustrated in three pages; that is what Hemingway was good at, and what all other short fiction writers aspire to.  Oates said she recently taught Hemingway’s short story, “Indian Camp,” and thought it was the best of his short works.

It was an interesting and lively discussion, convenient because there was no traffic to fight to get there on time.  The event was recorded and can be accessed in replay.  Ultimately, this series of books centers on the fact that we all have addictions that get us through the day.  Rather than taking up smoking, one audience member suggested in the chat that maybe nicotine would go well in brownies.  Child responded that he would weigh 400 pounds if that were possible.

Nicotine’s delivery system is an unfortunate problem.  Until there is a quicker way to get it—an injection?—we will have to make do with eating more vegetables instead of burning tobacco leaves, unless we throw caution to the wind and give in to our addictions.